With Diehard Fans Up In Arms, Here's What We Learned From The 'Metal Gear Survive' Gameplay Demo

Konami has followed up its Metal Gear Survive trailer reveal earlier this year at Gamescom with a full 15-minute gameplay demonstration at the Tokyo Game Show. The demo shows two aspects of the game, revealing how players will work as a team to secure resources and also how they will defend their base from attacking zombies. You can take a look at the demo in the YouTube video below.

The teaser will do little to calm the fury of diehard fans of the Metal Gear series, which I documented in a previous article Metal Gear Survive: Why Are The Fans So Angry,especially as the look and feel of the demo appears to be ripped straight from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. But what can we learn from the clip?

It's About Survival

Not only must you collect resources and build bases to survive in your new environment, you will also need to protect yourself. At the 4:09 mark, one of the players is attacked by a zombie. He opens up his iDroid and heals the injury. Exactly how he does this is unclear, but the action is somewhat similar to the healing mechanism used in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

The iDroid display shows a (somewhat lazy and hopefully for demo purposes only) stick figure icon indicating where the injury is, and a percentage scale showing how bad it is. The display also reveals slots for weapons and clothing. A percentage scale here indicates that gear will wear out over time. Below this is a weight limit indicator, so there will be a restriction on how much equipment you can carry. There are also gauges for thirst and hunger in another nod to Metal Gear Solid 3, a game that required you to eat anything, from fruit to animals, in order to stay alive.

It's Still A Stealth Game

It seems Konami want you to know that there is still stealth in this game. The video clip showcases at least three different ways in which this manner of attack can be used to neutralize the zombie threat. You can use distraction by throwing an object and making a sound, allowing you to sneak up on the enemy and take it out (1:28 in the clip).

At 2:38 we are shown how you can stun the zombie by hitting it with a projectile on its horn, thus enabling you to kill it as you see fit. The video shows how this can be done by working with a teammate (one person stuns the creature while the other takes it out) and how the environment can be used to your advantage e.g., the zombie could be knocked onto a spiked fence.

Then at the five-minute mark, we see how live animals can be used as bait to lure the zombies into a small group, where they can then be dispatched using the zombie hunters favorite tool, the molotov cocktail.

As a doubter of this game I was quite surprised by how the stealth element seemed to fit in during this demonstration. However, creeping around zombies doesn't really create the same kind of tension as creeping around an armed guard.

Zombie Attacks

So we know that Konami has managed to keep the stealth element alive in this game, but what about the action? As much as the Metal Gear franchise is famed for its stealth, there have always been those moments where you have to shoot it out against the bad guys. With zombies as your main threat, there will be no tactical gunfights here, but you should still be on guard.

The video shows how having secured a base, players will then have to defend it against zombies. When they attack, they don't shuffle toward you in ones and twos; they attack in groups. You have the ability to craft defenses such as fences, barricades and even machine-gun turrets, but once your defenses have been breached, you can quickly become overrun, as shown from the 14:24 mark in the video.

From the self-healing survival aspect of Metal Gear Solid 3, to the crafting mechanic introduced in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the overall impression you get is that there is nothing new here. The buildings, backdrops and even the rock formations will be familiar to players of Metal Gear Solid V, as it looks like they have been lifted straight from that game and placed in this one. At best this is DLC content, and Konami appears to agree, having already stated that this will not be a full-price game, although its exact price point is yet to be revealed.

Metal Gear fans will most likely stay away from this game in droves. But for those who have never played it before, the gameplay demo reveals just enough to perhaps spark some interest and have newbies reaching for their wallets.

Are you excited to play Metal Gear Survive? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.